For Everything Else, there's Time Vent
by mgtragoedia
Summary: Sometimes there are situations in which you are doomed to lose, that despite everything, you will fail. For everything else, there's Time Vent. Which is ridiculously useful when convincing amnesiac former villains to destroy Riders to save the worlds.


They've lost more than a few comrades along the way, but they've done it. They finally located Decade's world (or at least the world he was staying at).

Shinji breathes deeply, in and out, willing his heartbeat to slow down. He steps through the dead bodies that litter the streets and tries his hardest to ignore the sounds of children crying as their world literally dissolves around them.

He notices Kenzaki, out of the corner of his eye, a deep grimace across his ageless face, and a blurred silhouette of who he thinks is Tendou, defeating the monsters in their way, but never pausing for a moment to comfort the people. A moment spent to cradle a child might be more than they can afford.

It hurts him to think like this, of people as factors, but he has no choice. They have no choice. Messing up means more this time around. One wrong move could mean the end of the world, the end of all worlds.

Shinji takes out his deck, looking through it to make sure all of the cards are in order. He pulls out one particular card, on loan from Odin, before slotting it back in and transforming.

He looks to Hibiki, their default leader, who nods back in confirmation.

Shinji doesn't remember much from his previous time as a Rider, only has fragments of memories from timelines that could have been, that had happened, that jumble together, never distinguishing themselves. But what he does know is traveling through the Mirror World is probably the fastest and most efficient way to find Decade.

He hears the familiar high pitched wailing as he enters the glass, and is met with the just as familiar monsters that crowd it. They are packed, standing almost shoulder to shoulder, some spotting human targets, others fighting over choice picks.

All of them, however, turn to him when he rides in, united in their hunger. He pulls out a card, inserting in the slot of his arm holster, and hits the gas as an automated voice shouts out his attack.

A giant red dragon appears behind his bike, breathing fire. In conjunction, they slam through the hoards of monsters, scanning each mirror they pass for signs of Decade.

A flash of pink (or was it magenta?) darts around in one of the mirrors and Shinji almost breaks the bike by stopping. He pulls out the phone in his pocket, a joint project between Agito's and Blade's allies, and transmits his location to his fellow riders.

Decade is a mess. Despite the mix of sand and neon green blood that surrounds him, he's breathing heavily, his armor cracked in places, and is clearly struggling to simply stay upright. More and more monsters keep on coming, so Shinji pops in a Survive Card and hopes backup will come soon.

It does but apparently, that's not soon enough because moments after they arrive, Decade collapses, cancelling out his transformation. There's a body of a girl near him, her eyes still open in shock. Decade doesn't look much better, his stomach is stabbed straight through, blood soaking into his clothes, from a hit he probably took untransformed. Was it for her?

Memories, unbidden, surface up in his mind, and tiny little details start to add themselves to Decade's story. He sees Mirror Monsters where there are mostly Imagin and Undead. Ren begging him not do die and _oh god, he died exactly like this. _He remembers slipping away, wanting to tell Ren so much more, wanting to change so much more, and he can't breathe. He can't breathe but he has to because he doesn't want to die _again. _He doesn't want anyone to die again.

There's a gentle pressure on his shoulder and a voice that gets louder and louder until he realizes that it's calling for him.

"I'm fine," he says, willing the memories to go away. Wataru doesn't look convinced but doesn't say anything, either.

"Decade?"

"Dead." It's Tendou who answers him, his face grim, clear of it's usual arrogance. "You have the card?".

Shinji nods, his hands shaking as he pulls it out of the deck. "Hang on," he says as he slots it in.

**TIME VENT**

Time Vent, no matter how powerful was always limited to the world it was used in. For example, a world repeating a certain period of time, over and over again, wouldn't change anything for worlds running parallel to it. While one world continued repeating 2003, the other worlds would move on to 2004 and so on.

That said, Time Vent also warped a world, making time flow faster until it caught up to the latest chronological moment when it was used. Shiro Kanzaki played it safe in his world, just transporting himself and Odin, reducing the lasting effects simply to being left five years behind other worlds.

But, in this situation, Time Vent's limit was actually a good thing. If they warped to a time before they entered this world, they would stay in this world, instead of wherever they were before.

Everything works out perfectly, with them arriving right before the monster invasion, and finding Decade only a few minutes after.

It's best to send in a single rider, make this as non-confrontational as possible. Decade might be an evil overlord, but Shinji is sure that he isn't crazy enough to want the end of all the worlds or impulsive enough to kill a Rider before he delivered his message.

Hibiki sends him a questioning glance but Shinji shakes his head. No matter what's at stake, there's a part of him that just can't tell a Rider to kill other Riders.

But Tendou looks like he's about to walk over and debrief Decade himself, and Shinji might not be smart, but he knows warning lights when he sees them.

"Kenzaki-san!" He shouts the name in his hurry. "Why don't you go?"

Kenzaki nods and walks on over while Tendou does his fingerpointing thing, saying something long winded about those who are afraid to act shouldn't prevent others from acting. With any luck, everything will turn out all right.

While Kazuma didn't volunteer, he _did_ have a general speech outline planned out. Out of the seven riders that made it onto this world, only four were eligible to directly confront Decade (Hibiki mentioned something about being older and headstrong young people, Faiz's tongue had fallen victim to Agito's and Kabuto's cooking, and Kabuto was Kabuto).

He opens up a portal, drawing Decade into it, so they can talk without interruptions.

While he had gotten a little emotional, Kazuma thought he explained things well enough (especially given the fact that Decade was suffering from amnesia). He deposited Decade where he found him, walking out himself, confident in a successful mission and leaving one thought simultaneously run through the heads of every Rider.

**_I didn't understand a single word he said_****.**

The next time Decade saw Kenzaki Kazuma, he was dressed from head to toe in black, talking calmly, and beating him into oblivion.

**TIME VENT**

****The world was almost at it's end, and Tsugami was nowhere to be seen. He had left to talk to Decade over an hour ago and still hadn't returned. As much as he'd hate to admit it, Takumi was getting really worried. Decade had amnesia and hadn't attacked Kenzaki the last time around, but who know what would happen this time?

Thanks to Tsugami and Tendou's cooking, he couldn't do the talking himself, but he was more than good enough as a backup in a fight.

Takumi entered the portal carefully, scanning the area inside, ready to transform if necessary.

What he didn't expect to find were Decade and Tsugami, sitting by a fountain's edge, chatting about _cooking_ of all things.

Takumi might have been unable to talk but he was certainly able to forcefully drag Tsugami out by the ear and alert Kido to use the Time Vent Card before everything collapsed.

**TIME VENT**

"Kuuga's world disappeared and Den-O is still twelve." Hibiki said, counting the other riders off, one by one.

"It's your turn, Wataru." A pat on the back accompanied Shinji's words.

"Make it count."


End file.
